Thanks to this blog (which is one of the best sources for old Eastern bloc music I've seen so far), now we have an amateur compilaton of non-underground Soviet electronic music. As the author admits, it wasn't easy to compile: beyond Eduard Artemiev (who is internationally known mostly for his soundtracks for Tarkovsky's movies), there's only a couple of names that got more or less wide recognition. However, I think it was a right decision to prefer quality over quantity by including only the best stuff into this sampler. This is a great compilation that accurately reflects the spirit and atmosphere of Soviet science fiction of early 80s, and it's strongly recommended to everyone who's interested in old school electronic music (especially space-themed). If you want more, then you might want to check out another series of compilations on that blog, which features almost all Soviet electronic artists they could find (several hours of music in total, movie soundtracks mostly).

For those who wonder WTF is track #10, I'll tell you: it's a soundtrack for the fitness classes which were very popular in mid-1980s. Might sound quite funny in our day and age, but it actually was one of the most erotic things you could see on Soviet TV in 1985:

The bonus track is performed by one of the first Slovenian synthpop bands which was very popular in Yugoslavia in the 80s. It's awesome how such a small country has managed to produce so many great industrial, synthpop, and other alternative electronic acts: Laibach, Coptic Rain, Borghesia, Neurotech, etc., etc...

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About this blog

I created this blog mostly because I wanted to practise my English skills, and to showcase the industrial, gothic, punk, metal, neofolk and progressive rock scene of Russia/ex-USSR and Eastern Europe (especially Hungary) in the meanwhile.

As you can see, this blog doesn't take itself seriously enough, but I hope I'm doing good enough with my reviews even if my proficiency in English is limited. Along with the aforementioned stuff from Eastern Europe, I occasionally post some classic and rare albums that aren't to be missed, and generally whatever I want. Other categories of note:

* finno-ugric rarities - various music (including pop) in minor Finno-Ugric languages which I'm interested in because of my heritage. The music from Hungary, Finland and Estonia can be found under the respective categories;

* lo-fi - various poorly recorded demos from before 2000 that are of historical importance. Most of these demos come from the USSR era, so you might want to check out the USSR category as well.

As of now, I try to post only music that has already been made free by the artists themselves, or the rare old releases that are out of print. But if you're an artist and would like me to remove the download links of your work, just contact me using the form below.

Sorry, I don't do reviews by request, I don't have the time. Moreover, I think the bands that feel the need to advertise themselves by sending their demos to as many blogs as possible are usually just plain boring. If you want to contact me for any other reason, use the contact form below.

It should be obvious enough that reviewing anything on here doesn't equals endorsement of artists' personal views. This especially concerns neofolk and martial industrial. It'd be fair enough to say that I have the same approach to the political and religious topics in these genres as Laibach do.

Many of the female musicians featured on my blog are amateur models, and in many cases their modelling work is no less interesting than their music. Right now I'm working on giving it a separate section of the blog (just in case if anyone wants my review to be only about their music and not their looks). The work is in progress, check back later if you're interested.

The title of my blog comes from a song by The Kovenant (album "SETI", 2003).